Various electronic theft prevention devices providing ignition inhibition are known in the prior art. A particularly successful device of this type, developed by the present applicant/assignee, is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,778. This device and other prior art devices operate on the low voltage side of the ignition system.
Recently self-contained continuous very high voltage generators have become commercially available. These devices make it practical to effectively bypass all anti-theft devices operating on the low voltage side of ignition systems, by supplying a continuous high voltage pulse train to the center contact of the distributor cap. Although the resulting engine performance is poor, a vehicle can be started and moved, by means of provision of such a pulse train.